I used to be Britain's longest-running wrestling blogger. Then I got a proper job.

Sunday, 29 June 2008

Frank Warren Presents Best of Boxing - DVD Review

It’s time for The Two Sheds Review to take a look at the world of professional boxing again, and what better place to do it than here in good old Britain, and with the help of one of the world’s biggest promoters.Frank Warren Presents Best of Boxing contains eight of the greatest fights seen on these shores since 1995. After we hear a little about how Mr. Warren became one of the most powerful sporting figures on the planet, it’s onto the action. Every fight presented here bar one is a world title fight, and features the cream of British talent, and the good thing is I remember each and every one of them, having watched them all live on television.

For instance, who can forget Nigel Benn’s brutal fight with Gerald McClellan in 1995? Benn looked like he was going to lose it after going down in the first round, and again in the eighth, only for the Dark Destroyer to come back and retain his WBC Super-Middleweight title.

Or Frank Bruno’s emotional WBC World Heavyweight title win against Oliver McCall. Bruno’s fourth attempt at winning the gold saw him out point and out box the American all the way. It truly was an astonishing night.

Then there’s Naseem Hamed. The Prince was like Marmite, you either loved him or hated him, but you had to give him credit for his boxing skills, and the way he cockily obliterated featherweight great Steve Robinson in his own backyard to gain his first world title.

There’s two efforts from Chris Eubank here, although sadly they are losing ones, as we see him trying to regain his super-middleweight title from Irishman Steve Collins, and his second cruiserweight title encounter with Carl Thompson. I would have preferred to see his first fight with Thompson here, but you can’t have everything.

The collection is rounded off with three of Britain’s modern greats. There’s Amir Khan’s final amateur fight against Cuban legend Mario Kindelan, Joe Calzaghe’s demolition of Byron Mitchell, and Ricky Hatton’s finest hour as he defeats Australian Kostya Tszyu, cementing his position as one of the best fighters in the world today.

In conclusion - if you’re a long time British boxing fan, you’ll enjoy this DVD. Although, sadly, all of the fights are only in highlight form, you’ll still see a ton of great action, and now that this release is very reasonably priced, it’s certainly value for money.